Chaikin Money Flow (CMF)

Chaikin money flow is the accumulation/distribution idea turned into an oscillator. Instead of an ever-growing total, it reports the volume-weighted average close location over the last N bars. Positive CMF means bars have, on balance, closed in the upper part of their ranges. Negative CMF means the opposite. Zero is the balance point. Because volume is in both the numerator and the denominator, a quiet bar cannot dominate a heavy one.

Thresholds such as +0.05 and -0.05 are sometimes used so that a trivial positive reading is not treated as accumulation. A cross above zero is the coarsest bullish shift. Persistence above zero, not a one-bar poke, is the reading that matches a trend. Divergence against price works the same way as on the cumulative line, with the advantage that an old shock ages out of the window.

CMF holding positive while price pulls back says the window is still closing well relative to its ranges. A turn up through zero from a negative reading, with price at support, is the swing use. Confirm with the level. CMF does not know where support is.

CMF holding negative under a rally says the rally bars are closing poorly. That is a reason to be careful with breakout longs, not an automatic short. A thin market can print a negative reading from a handful of bars.

Using a 21-period CMF on a five-minute chart and hearing it as a daily accumulation study. The window is 21 of whatever bar you chose. Also duplicating CMF and the accumulation/distribution line as two independent votes. They share the close location value.

Any bar with high equal to low blows up or zeroes the location value, depending on the platform's guard. And CMF has no trend model. A strong uptrend can show negative CMF for a stretch if the heavy bars are the down days inside it, which may be normal two-sided trade rather than distribution.